Ormsby-Gore, William George Arthur, 4th Baron Harlech

▪ British politician and scholar

born April 11, 1885, London

died Feb. 14, 1964, London

      British politician and scholar who was active in promoting education in the British colonies.

      Educated at Eton and at New College, Oxford (1907), Ormsby-Gore was elected to Parliament in 1910. During World War I he served in Egypt, where he acquired a lifelong interest in Zionism, and in 1917 he became an assistant secretary to the Cabinet. He was British liaison officer with the 1918 Zionist Mission in Palestine, and he was a member of the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

      Ormsby-Gore held several other diplomatic posts before being appointed parliamentary undersecretary in the Colonial Office in October 1922. He was made a privy councillor in February 1927 and remained in the Colonial Office until 1929. In 1936 he was appointed colonial secretary, a post he resigned two years later because of his elevation to the peerage (on the death of his father, the 3rd Baron Harlech) and because of his outspoken criticism of Nazi Germany. Lord Harlech subsequently held other high positions in government and banking.

      In dealing with Britain's African colonies, he promoted educational policies in keeping with the needs of the region. He also championed scientific research to aid in solving the medical and agricultural problems afflicting the underdeveloped portions of the British Empire. In line with his interest in and commitment to education, he served as prochancellor of the University of Wales from 1945 to 1957.

      A scholar of the arts and architecture, he was associated with several museums and was a trustee of the National Gallery (1927–34; 1936–41) and of the British Museum (1937–64). As postmaster general from 1931 to 1936, he made a determined effort to improve post office architecture. His books—Florentine Sculptors of the Fifteenth Century (1930) and four volumes in the series Guide to the Ancient Monuments of England (1935, 1936, and 1948)—reflected his knowledge of and enthusiasm for the arts.

* * *